The Pain of Memory, A New Beginning
by nino21
Summary: The giant war has ended. A lot has been lost. Both of the chapters have been repeated in history. However, this time, a new one is added to the list. A threat bigger than all the previous ones put together.
1. A New Beginning

**This is my new story. Staged after the giant war. If you hate Reyna then don't read it. This is how I think the books will end anyway. Please read and review and I'll continue it :)) hope you like it.**

Percy was sitting on the bank of the Tiber river. One year had passed since the Giant War, one year since his heart had been shattered and Annabeth had died. She had saved them all, but in the end Gaea took her, before she lapsed back into her eternal slumber. When that happened, Percy thought that he would go mad. The pain was worse than anything he could have ever imagined. Thalia took a break from the hunters, just to be by his side after the disaster. Annabeth was like a sister to her and she felt the horrible pain as well. Percy was grateful for her help. The fact that Frank and Hazel were killed as well didn't help Percy cope any better. Even though Jason, Leo and Piper tried to cheer him up in some way, they couldn't help. His heart was broken and that was the end of it. When they returned from the quest, Jason and Percy had an agreement. Jason went to Camp Half-Blood and Percy stayed as Praetor at Camp Jupiter. Jason fell in love with Piper, so he couldn't leave her and Percy wanted to escape from his old camp. Being there after Annabeth died just hurt to much.

He was not the only person hurting in the beginning though, Reyna suffered too, after Jason left for the Greek camp, forever. She did like him after all but she let him go, realizing that things would never be the same. In Percy's misery, she was the one who understood him the most, and the one who helped him deal with the pain. Eventually he found himself getting used to the Romans, the whole camp, and a new life. Rachel, Thalia, Grover and Tyson still visited him once in a while and he made a lot of friends among the Romans. Even Octavian was cordial towards him after the war. So his life was continuing in this manner. The reason he came to the river today was to think. His life was changing now, he was sure of it. The reason for the change was Reyna.

After he became praetor, even though she would never admit it, but she had taken a liking to him. That was one of the main reasons she was able to let Jason go. It was also the reason that she managed to heal Percy's heart. She made the pain go away and like she said so long ago, praetors work very closely together and it was common for them to be romantically involved with each other. This time was no exception. Already they were spending more time than necessary together. They would stroll and talk for hours and Percy got to know the real her, not the battle-hardened mask she wore for the Romans. He flashed back to a few months ago. They were sitting on temple hill. Ever since he returned from the war, the Romans began to honor Neptune more and decided to rebuild his temple. Now it too looked grand and majestic, nothing on the Jupiter temple, but still impressive. Percy had taken to a habit of sitting next to it and gazing at the camp from the hill. He would just loose himself in thought and gaze down at the marvelous view. After a while, Reyna began to join him in his hiding place. Just like him, she needed to get away from the duties of being praetor and just take a break. So they would sit there and talk or just gaze at the view smiling. A few weeks ago that began to change. Without even realizing it, they held each others hands and sometimes Reyna would lean on his chest as they sat together. They would talk about absolutely anything: they're childhood, they're battles and quests. Sometimes they talked about they're wishes and desires, gods and monsters. It took a long time for Percy to realize that they only did that because they enjoyed each others company. Then, yesterday evening, Reyna finally asked the key question,

" Will you ever move on?" she asked him, as she looked into his eyes. When he gave her a quizzical look she added " Move on from the pain, I mean. Will you ever look at another girl after Annabeths death?" The question took him off guard, he wasn't ready to answer it. Yet as he looked into her eyes, he already knew the answer, he had known it for months already but was to afraid to admit it to himself.

He managed to smile at her, " And why are you so interested in that?" he asked in a playful tone. Reyna smiled, and punched him playfully,

" I just want to know if you will ever become the person you were. Well, will you answer the question?" He deliberated for a moment on his answer and then looked into her eyes meaningfully, " Reyna," he said softly, " I have already moved on in a way and a certain girl has caught my eye." Reyna seemed to grasp the meaning and her breath stopped for a moment.

She looked away and asked " Anyone in particular?" Percy winced internally as he remembered Annabeth asking that very same question, but then he shook himself out of the memory. No use to dwell on the past, now was the time to embrace the future, " Well, I can tell you that she is a beautiful, dark-haired, praetor." He smiled. Reyna turned around, and her eyes were shining. That's when Percy pulled her into his arms and finally kissed her. He felt his chest grow warm and he realized just how much he missed actually liking someone. The feeling he felt for Reyna, was no different than what he had felt for Annabeth. Like they were just meant to be. Reyna put her arms around his neck and they sat there like that for a while, neither wanting to break the kiss. Eventually they pulled away, gasping for breath.

" I never thought you would move on, but I'm glad you did." Reyna told him. " I never thought I would either," Percy sighed, " But I'm glad I did, too." Reyna smiled at him again and they sat there in silence as they watched the sunset.

Percy came to the river next morning to think about the implications of what had happened. He really liked Reyna, that was official, but to be with her, he had to let go Annabeth, forever, and that was still very painful. He sat there in a depressed silence when a voice spoke behind him, " I knew I would find you here." It was Reyna. She came and sat down next to him. " Percy, I really like you, but nothing will work out with us if you don't let Annabeth go." Percy was startled for a moment, " How do you know that I had not let her go already?"

Reyna sighed, " That's because I know you. You are too loyal, your fatal flaw is loyalty. I figured you would have a hard time letting someone go." Percy realized that she knew him a lot better than he thought. He looked at the water gushing rapidly through the river, wishing he could let all his worry and pain flow away with it. Sadly things were never so easy. But he knew what to do now. He loved Annabeth, but she was gone. Now was the time to move on. He turned to Reyna and smiled at her, " Don't worry, I let go." Reyna looked at him doubtfully but he insisted,

"Annabeth was my past. In many ways the best part, but she is gone and I let go. I let go of my old camp, my heritage and I am ready to let go of my memory as well." The determinacy in his voice seemed to convince Reyna because she actually smiled and hugged him.

"Good," she whispered to him, " I thought you would never come around." They stood up together and Percy gave her a kiss before they set of towards his new home, Camp Jupiter. Percy did not look back.


	2. An Unexpected Surprise

**Hey guys. Finally I got the second chapter done. I want to ask you to give this story a chance. I am determined to make it good. Tell me what you think because your opinions help me write. Remember to READ and REVIEW. :))**

During the year after the giant war, Percy's life fell into a routine. He still trained and lead the camp. As soon as he returned from the war, the Romans gave him back the position of praetor. He didn't really want it but Reyna believed that he was the best suited person for it at camp and apparently everyone at camp believed the same thing. He didn't want to let everyone down so he accepted the position. One thing which was good about it was that Percy had to work a lot and during his free time he trained. This made him to busy to grieve. He really didn't like the free days because then he remembered the huge losses that he suffered. Every time he became lost in memory he felt a pain so intense that he found it hard to breath.

Living among the Romans did help him come around eventually, though. However, he never visited camp Half-Blood. That was one trip that he could not take. Reyna helped him out a lot. Ever since Percy discovered that he liked her, life became easier. He found the person that kept him in check and helped him fight against the pain. With her he felt like his old self, carefree and happy. Besides Reyna possibly was one of the few people who understood his loss. So they kept together, leading the camp. Percy though that if his life continued like this, he could actually end up happy. He would be praetor for ten more years and then he could go to college and live in New Rome. He wouldn't have to worry about the problems of the world anymore. He fought two major battles, became the hero of Olympus, the hero who lead and won the wars. Both of the chapters have been repeated and now he could finally relax. Well did that happen? Of course not.

Percy had already come to terms with the fact that he had the worst luck ever. He was dragged into two wars, got attacked by every monster, giant and god possible, lost many people he deeply cared about and was used as a pawn by both titans and one of the most evil goddess that existed. There were a few bright moments, like his friends, Reyna and Annabeth while she was alive. Mostly however, many would agree that his life sucked. So he shouldn't have been so surprised when fate had given him an unpleasant surprise once again.

It was an average day at camp Jupiter. In the morning Percy got up and went through his everyday routine. He lived in the second praetor house which had once belonged to Jason. Jason left the Roman camp and had not intent for coming back. Everyone he cared about and was friends with was now at the Greek camp. Besides Percy knew that one of the reasons that Jason hadn't returned was to give him the opportunity to recover and start a new life. Jason knew that Percy couldn't return to his old home, so he offered his instead. Percy would always be grateful to him for that. Even though they fought plenty of times, they were still like brothers. Jason's house now was officially Percy's. He didn't have a lot of stuff and because of that it was half empty and messed up. Even though he was mostly Roman now, Percy still could never be as organized and orderly as most Romans were. Instead everything was thrown on the floor and the bed was never made up. Reyna came into his house once in a while to force him to clean up. Eventually she would do most of the things for him and call him hopeless.

Most of Percy's praetor duties consisted of arranging war games two times a week, monitoring new recruits and helping organize the camp activities. He was the person to whom everyone ran to with questions. He was basically this camps version of Chiron. The other thing that Percy did was teach sword fighting. Greek sword fighting. It has been agreed that both the Greeks and Romans should be familiar with each others fighting styles now that the camps have been revealed. Some Greek demigods were exchanged with roman demigods among camps for them to learn about each other. That way enmity was less common because the demigods grew up learning about both cultures and understanding both points of view. Percy could not teach Roman fighting because he was born Greek, however he was the best swordsman of both camps. In fact he was possibly the best swordsman in centuries. Jason was very good too, but even he was no match for Percy for whom sword fighting was second nature.

Every morning after breakfast, he held his class. Many demigods came to learn from him. Percy found it ironic that he had always detested the teaching profession and yet ended up as a teacher himself. This teaching was different though. It was practice and doing something he loved all together. After his morning class, he would go around organizing new activities and organizing new war games. It was his job to take care of the whole camp, check its security and the abilities of the warriors. When he had free time, he would hang out with his friends from the fifth Cohort or swim. Swimming was the thing he loved the most. Just being in water made him content. Sometimes he would go to the ocean to just feel closer to his father. Percy could get used to a life like this. If he was given the opportunity that is.

It all happened unexpectedly. Percy and Reyna were gathering the campers for evening muster when the ground began to shake. Earthquakes were common in California so Percy wasn't worried at first. However, then the sky began to darken and the air began to condense into a form. Something was making an appearance. Percy would have thought it to be one of the Olympian gods but whatever was coming was something way more powerful. Percy could feel its aura of power. A being materialized before the demigods. It was as dark as midnight and its skin seemed to be made out of the night sky. A person could see stars and galaxies on it. Its eyes were black voids. They contained nothing, literally nothing and Percy found it really creepy to look into them. Percy may not have known mythology really well after all these years but even he could guess who this being was. However, he decided to ask, in case he was mistaken.

" Who are you?" He demanded. The being trained its void eyes on him.

" Don't you have any manners?" it said in an ancient voice which made Percy's insides freeze, " Learn how to address your elders. Yet I did not expect nothing less from you Perseus Jackson."

The being knew him and Percy expected that. Most gods knew him. What surprised him was the its manner of speaking. Its voice was amused yet serious and time seemed to stop as it talked. Not the Kronos time stop. Time just didn't exist anymore. Percy felt like they were moved to a different dimension. The creature was obviously powerful but Percy was as impertinent as always. This was his camp, so he addressed everyone as he wanted to.

" You didn't answer my question." Percy said. The being continued to stare at Percy and he got the feeling that he was about to get blasted to dust. However, it just laughed. Hard.

" So impatient." The being boomed, " Very well demigod, I will answer your question, maybe then you will learn how to speak with me properly. I am Chaos, creator of the universe and the oldest Primordial god."


End file.
